Mike Farris:
We’re visiting today with Joseph Catoe, who is a homeschool graduate from Maryland who is at Patrick Henry College as a sophomore working on a degree in government. Joseph, thanks so much for being on the program today.

Joseph Catoe:
It’s great to be here.

Mike:
I wanted to ask you, what are some of the things that your parents did to help you grow up to be a responsible, mature, Christian adult?

Joseph:
My eleventh and twelfth-grade year, my parents allowed me to be involved in a tutoring ministry that my church had. I was the youth leader of that, had about twenty students at some point that we were leading. So I was able to be involved in that, learn how to lead better, learn how to be responsible, learn how to grow in that area.

Mike:
What kind of responsibilities did your parents give you in the care of the home and in the helping with your brothers and sisters that helped mature you?

Joseph:
When my parents would go out on date nights, I would be in charge of watching all the kids. I had all the different responsibilities for making dinner, making sure everyone got to bed on time, dealing with any conflicts or arguments that would come up, very often as they did.

Mike:
Now if people say, “It’s not fair to stick kids with these kinds of responsibilities; the parents should do it themselves,” what’s your answer to that?

Joseph:
I think it was a great opportunity for me to learn how to lead people. A great opportunity for me to learn responsibility, because my parents would come home and say, “Hey, is the trash out?” And I’d be like, “Oh, no.” So then I’d go and take the trash out and that really helped me to learn what it means to be responsible. What does it mean to have a responsibility and carry it out to completion?

Mike:
Thank you very much, Joseph. I’m Mike Farris.